Kaveri Devi Mishra 8 May 2019 Despite efforts to ensure truly representative elections,India’s sexual minority groups still feel marginalised. As the mammoth task of elections in India continue up to a 19 May deadline, the nation’s election commission is seeking a full turnout of the population – including the often marginalised LGBTQI community. For the first time, transgender
READ MOREThe Reuters case is about more than press freedom but alsorelations between Myanmar and the international community. by Melissa Crouch 8 May 2019 Human rights advocates had a rare chance to celebrate on Tuesday as two local Reuters journalists in Myanmar were released from prison. Their situation is viewed by the international community as a
READ MORERodger Shanahan 1.5.19 If NTJ is responsible for this complex, multi-target suicide attack, it probably got external help. Officials inspect the damaged St. Sebastian’s Church after co-ordinated explosions on April 21, 2019 in Negombo, north of Colombo, Sri Lanka. (Photo: Stringer/Getty) It is very early in the aftermath of the Sri Lanka terrorist attacks and
READ MOREBy Dr. Bec Strating 30 March 2019 At the end of last month, the African archipelago nation of Mauritius secured an important legal victory in its territorial and maritime disputes against its former coloniser, the United Kingdom. The International Court of Justice (ICJ) produce an advisory opinion that rejected the UK’s claims to sovereignty over
READ MORERohingya refugees attempt to escape Myanmar (Photo: Jordi Bernabeu Farrús via Flickr) By Rebecca Barber 6 March 2019 12:30 A call for practical action to end sexual violence in conflict Last week the UN Security Council was briefed yet again on the situation in Myanmar. This time the message was presented by the Secretary-General’s Special Envoy Christine Schraner
READ MOREThursday 07 Mar 2019 SYDNEY Indians celebrate the Indian air strike in Pakistan (Photo: Rahul Raut via Getty) By Priya Chacko On Tuesday, India launched air strikes targeting what it claimed was the biggest training camp of the militant group, Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) near the town of Balakot in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. The
READ MOREby Renee Jeffery 12 February 2019 The Lowy Institute On 9 February 2019, the operational mandate of Nepal’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) and Commission of Investigation on Enforced Disappeared Persons (CIEDP) was due to expire. With neither commission having completed even one investigation into the tens of thousands of complaints filed by victims of
READ MOREBy Aarti Betigeri 13 February 2019 With its mammoth general elections due in April or May, Indian politics is entering full-bodied election mode. India’s 900 million voters are set to decide whether to return Prime Minister Narendra Modi to office, or not, in elections that some are describing as the most important since Independence. Modi
READ MORETHURSDAY 10 JAN 2019 | SYDNEY by The Interpreter@lowyinstitute A worrying recent trend of violence outside of war zones, some of it state-sanctioned, has captured the attention of governments and, increasingly, the public. The Interpreter covered some of the best-known instances, and some sadly overlooked ones. On 4 March, former Russian intelligence operative Sergei Skripal and
READ MORETHURSDAY 10 JAN 2019 Aung Sun Suu Kyi’s government is bound to the military (Photo: Wikimedia Commons) Some have called Myanmar a struggling beauty. Without a doubt, the country is beautiful, home to a number of unique heritage sites. Yet it is also a country that claims it has been widely misunderstood. The basis to
READ MOREThursday 22 Nov 2018 India has enjoyed a bumper crop, with record high agricultural production in 2017–2018. India is the world’s largest producer of millets and the second largest producer of rice and wheat. But this doesn’t help a family living in a slum on the outskirts of Trivandrum, deep in the southern state of Kerala. Thankamani
READ MOREIn recent years, these islands have been increasingly recognised as militarily important. (Photo: Wikimedia Commons) By Aarti Betigeri 21 November 2018 Ecologically fragile The Andaman and Nicobar Islands are a group of 572 islands, roughly equidistant from both Kolkata and Chennai, about 1,200 kilometres each way to the mainland. Just 37 islands are permanently inhabited, by
READ MORETHURSDAY 15 NOV 2018 Forging a close and trustworthy relationship (Photo: Kyodo News via Getty) BY Purnendra Jain 9 November 2018 India and Japan have forged a special strategic and global partnership over the years, and Prime Ministers Narendra Modi and Shinzo Abe have developed a personal and special relationship, propelling the relationship between the
READ MOREBy Melissa Crouch 1 November 2018 People go to the polls on Saturday in Myanmar, or at least some of them do. On 3 November 2018, the Union Election Commission will coordinate by-elections across 13 electorates. Most are to fill seats from vacancies due to deaths of senior members of parliament. There are two reasons these elections
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